The Ravine

1969 Italian film

The Ravine

Directed by	Paolo Cavara
Screenplay by	Paolo Cavara
Story by	Paolo Cavara John Crawford
Produced by	Richard Irving Marx
Starring	David McCallum Nicoletta Machiavelli Lars Bloch
Cinematography	Tomislav Pinter
Edited by	Carlo Reali
Music by	Riz Ortolani
Production companies	Francesca Film Jadran Films Group W Films
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer^[1] Variety Distribution
Release date	7 November 1969
Running time	97 minutes
Countries	Italy Yugoslavia United States
Languages	Italian English

The Ravine (Italian: La cattura) is a 1969 Italian-Yugoslav-American war drama film written and directed by Paolo Cavara and starring David McCallum, Nicoletta Machiavelli and John Crawford.^[2]^[3]

Plot

The story takes place in winter, during World War II, at an isolated, snowed-in area. This area is occupied by Germany but contested by partisans who have Russian backing.

One of the local partisans is Anja Kovach (Nicoletta Machiavelli). Her entire family was executed in retaliation for the death of a single German. She survived and, eventually, joined the partisans. She has become renowned as a sniper. She has killed almost half the local German garrison. The German troops live in fear of her.

Sergeant Stephen Holmann (David McCallum) is an expert sniper in the German army. Before the war, he worked as a teacher. He attended the 1936 Olympics, an expert in marksmanship and a hunter. He gets reassigned from North Africa, and parachuted into the area, for a special assignment: to capture Anja. He must not kill her, lest she become a martyr.

For several days, Stephen and Anja stalk each other through snow and woods. Eventually, Stephen wins: he manages to capture Anja, whilst she is occupied with signalling a Russian supply plane.

Simultaneously, a fierce battle erupts between Germans and partisans. The battle moves away, leaving Stephen and Anja alone, without supplies, and surrounded by dead bodies.

Stephen, with Anja his captive, is forced to find shelter and food, in hopes that the German forces will prevail and return. As days pass, Stephen and Anja's relationship evolves from adversarial to cooperative. They become lovers.

Subsequently, the battle returns to the area. Amidst flying bullets, Stephen returns Anja's rifle to her. They go in opposite directions but a German soldier spots Anja and kills her. Stephen sees this, and kills the soldier. A Russian soldier sees Stephen heading toward Anja and assumes he has shot her, and in retaliation, kills Stephen.

Cast

David McCallum as Sergeant Stephen Holmann
Nicoletta Machiavelli as Anja Kovach
John Crawford as Captain Keller
Lars Bloch as Lt. Alexei Soloviev
Demeter Bitenc as Lt. Eisgruber
Lewis W. Bushnell as Corporal Busch
Tana Mascarelli as First Old Woman
Ivona Petri as Second Old woman
Branko Špoljar as Thin Soldier
Mirko Boman as Tall Soldier
Rikard Brzeska as Old Soldier
Radko Polič as First Soldier

References

^ "La cattura". Archivio del Cinema Italiano. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
^ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia; Mario Pecorari (1991). Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film. Gremese Editore, 1992. ISBN 8876055932.
^ Leonard Maltin (1997). Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide. Penguin Group, 1997. ISBN 0452279143.